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Saturday, March 19, 2016

Readers Write In: A Nice Day at the Lake until this Mystery Snake Arrived

This is the best picture I took. We live in the southeast corner of Kansas. We have been looking to see how he/she got in but still are unsure. We had our water softener worked on and we found a snake skin. So our friend had been with us for awhile. We are also looking for a food source but have found no signs of mice. Any help or suggestions would be welcomed.

Thank you,

Helen C.

Kansas

Attached is a photo of the snake. My best guess is a Western Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis proximus) but I'm not confident. It was photographed in South Texas, in dry brush habitat, except for water holes for attracting birds. I appreciate your ID.

We were enjoying a nice day at the lake house (around Elm Mott) when we came across this guy in the water after we got in the boat. He was standing up at one point, then trying to hide it seemed. We relocated him, didn't want to kill him. Can you tell if this is a poisonous snake, or non?

Thank you,

Elizabeth B.

Texas

What Are These Snakes?

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Snake Identification Post Ground Rules

-Guesses are welcome and encouraged. Don't worry if you're not an expert, wrong guesses allow us to talk about how to distinguish between the various species and that's why I run these posts.

-If you can't explain why you think a snake is a particular species, go ahead and just say what you think it is. But otherwise please do let us all know how you identified the animal. If you're wrong, we can explain why. If you're right, this helps everyone learn how to identify snakes, which is the point of these posts.-This is not a pop quiz, any kind of research is encouraged and I hope you will engage with other commenters to try to figure these snakes out. I will eventually chime in with my thoughts.

-Assume I know what kind of snake is in the picture. I run these posts because they are outreach opportunities. Please don't send me private e-mails with your guesses, include them below.

-Remember, the person that sent me the picture is probably reading your comments. Although it is frustrating to know that many of these snakes have been killed, these people do want to learn more about them. More snake knowledge will lead to fewer snakes being killed. Don't hate, educate.